All Cursors will be the same size, they have just been drawn differently, the only thing that will change is the design not the height or width.
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| Figure 1 - Various Concepts for Cursors. |
Wednesday 15 December 2010
Interface - Cursors
Sunday 12 December 2010
Project Blend – Level Encounters
The smiley Ice cube face represents blocks of Ice inside the freezer.
The Snowflakes represent Ice on the Freezers floor.
Level Four - Part Four
As logan enters the Freezer there are more dangers than in the kitchen. There are Ice Blocks that get in the way of Logans progress and Ice on the floor that prevents Logan from treading.
He must navigate around and over these obstacles to get to try and find the Raspberries.
He must navigate around and over these obstacles to get to try and find the Raspberries.
 |
| Figure 1.1 - Part 1 of 4 |
Logan is presented with Ice Blocks first, he must use his wits to find a way around them without making contact, as contact means he will get stuck and be unable to safe the Raspberries.
 |
| Figure 1.2 - Part 2 of 4 |
As Logan traverses deeper into the freezer to free his Raspberry friends, he encounters Ice on the floor. He must carefully jump over this otherwise as with the Ice Blocks he will get stuck to it.
Level Four - Part Five
Note:
Boss Elite Fennel: Due to image being flipped his bad eye appears on the wrong side.
R = Ramp.
Logan is at the top of an ice ramp; the player must go down the ramp to find the Boss of level 4 Captain Fennel.
 |
| Figure 1.3 - Part 3 of 4 |
Boss Fight (Concept):
When Captain Fennel engages Logan in a fight, he has three phases; only the first two are in the first encounter.
Phase one, Fennel moves around the level erratically, during this time any attack Logan makes is deflected and inflicts no damage.
Phase two, Fennel moves for Logan and goes for the attack but there is a slight delay to allow Logan to move to safety. After Fennel has made his attack, he is confused for two to three seconds.
This gives Logan time to attack Fennel’s (bad eye side), blind spot. Which side depends on the defection Fennel and Logan are facing.
Fennel takes two hits before the next phase can be initiated.
Phase two, Fennel moves for Logan and goes for the attack but there is a slight delay to allow Logan to move to safety. After Fennel has made his attack, he is confused for two to three seconds.
This gives Logan time to attack Fennel’s (bad eye side), blind spot. Which side depends on the defection Fennel and Logan are facing.
Fennel takes two hits before the next phase can be initiated.
Level Four - Part Six
After all the other Blueberries come in to help Logan (fighting around and behind Logan and Fennel) the final phase of the fight commences.
 |
| Figure 1.4 - Part 4 of 4 |
Boss Battle Encounter 2 - Phase 3:
The fight is the same as before attack phases 1 and 2 are still present and active. But now when Fennel attacks and misses he is wise to Logan’s side attacks; so immediately afterwards he attacks to the side of his weak spot.
After attacking towards his weak spot phases 3 initiates, Fennel then jumps backwards two movement blocks.
The idea of this fight is to get Fennel stuck on the surrounding Ice; once stuck Fennel no longer poses a problem.
After attacking towards his weak spot phases 3 initiates, Fennel then jumps backwards two movement blocks.
The idea of this fight is to get Fennel stuck on the surrounding Ice; once stuck Fennel no longer poses a problem.
Monday 6 December 2010
Interface Health-Bar Concepts
This week I have been tasked with gathering information on interfaces and drawing some concepts for Project Blend.
So first I started with the research, I looked at loads of different health bars using different styles. Below are the ones I thought stood out the most for Project Blend.
 |
| 1.1 - Battle Fantasia |
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| 1.2 - Multiple iterations of Interface Designs for Bayonetta |
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| 1.3 - Dragon Ball Z |
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| 1.4 - Eternal Sonata |
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| 1.5 - Kingdom of Hearts |
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| 1.6 - Max Payne |
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| 1.7 - Prototype |
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| 1.8 - Street Fighter IV |
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| 1.9 - The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker |
From this research I started making concepts, I’ve not done many concepts in the terms that I have been vague but hopefully I’ve covered the breadth of the design ideas I wished to get across. All these ideas are hopefully useful and will aid in the quest for a good well implemented interface; through a big team discusion. Hopefully the team will either chose a design or bits from multiple designs and I will redraw it as a new concept will different colours and styles in time for our next meeting.
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| 2.1 - The first four Interface concepts |
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| 2.2 Interface concepts 5 to 10 |
Thursday 2 December 2010
Art Style – Level Concepts
This week I have been assigned to do a concept for a level at the end of the last lecture I was asked to make it for the good kitchen and two other artists also did a level each. Upon leaving the class the next day I went on the forum to have a conversation about the level like we talked about but all that got done was a list of things for the level was generated. This didn’t help me at all. I think I just needed a proper to do list because I didn’t grasp what to do from a quick chat and a list. We have talked in previous meetings about the three main games that we are using for our inspiration towards the design and colour of the actual look of the game. So i'll be using these as my main inspiration.
Sly Cooper
The legend of Zelda the Wind Waker
And Super Mario Bros
So since the others were doing concepts for the level I would focus of the type of style and design of the level and the perspective. For the perspective I chose to go with Little Big Planet like we said we was going to do because it’s a nice angle and it suits for gameplay well for our game. This keeps it vague enough for me to work and useful enough to not be a waste of time for the other team members as I don’t want to create something that will not be of use.
So after trying the forums I edited the set-up of the level so that there are less sub-layers, make the code so the NPC’s use the sub layers around the main layers the player is on as opposed to having two sub-layers per main layer.
Blue representing the main layer and Green representing the sublayers.
Blue representing the main layer and Green representing the sublayers.
Using this I then made a quick sketch of the potential final look of the camera design with the little big planet setup to make sure it all fit and looked good.
The green lines representing the perspective slowly increasing in angle as the camera moves further away. Three Logans were added, just to make sure that there would be enough room for him three times plus room for NPC’s to gather around him. As the image below shows there is plenty of room.
Next I made a sketch of how I though the (very) basic outline of the good kitchen level would look.
The poster won’t actually be in the game but it’s a placeholder to get an idea for stuff to put into the background.
Then I though add a little flavour to the level the kind that the team hopefully wants.
Thankfully I feel this gives everything a nice edgy look. So funny with this theme I intend to draw a toaster a single asset a few times for you guys to try and get an idea of how it looks and what kind of level of abstraction the team wants.
Then add a little flavour.
Next I tried adding a (Poorly drawn) sink to get a feel of how we would present it.
Then add some flavour.
Hopefully you team have thought about which ones they like, upon looking at the other concepts as well. From the feedback I will make a bigger design for the level next week that utilizes the chosen look.
Sunday 21 November 2010
Paper Prototype for grouping enemies
I decided to base my paper prototype work on remis’s work from previous weeks. This work has captured the teams imagination and they seem to be running with the idea so I’ve made my own one altered slightly the original.
Mine is lanes as opposed to lines they work exactly the same way it’s just easier to visualize things in their own sections instead of on lines.
In this paper prototype I have been charged with seeing how groups of enemies can be implemented into the game without causing to much trouble, testing out the various ways a horde can gather in a level without creating a que of enemies waiting for a fight.
In this paper prototype I have been charged with seeing how groups of enemies can be implemented into the game without causing to much trouble, testing out the various ways a horde can gather in a level without creating a que of enemies waiting for a fight.
So first I started by making my new outline to start testing with. Then I started thinking about the characters and their amount of health as with a horde of enemies, especially if they are in a que it is important that they don’t take to many hits, but enough so that the player doesn’t feel to superior to the enemies. i.e. groups of enemies dying after one hit. In my experience it can leave the player feeling cheated and make the game a button basher.
So thinking this through in my head especially when the player is surrounded by the maximum amount of enemies, 8, the player can take up to 8 damage per-second, so the player will need recharging health and at least double that amount in maximum health to be able to stay alive and have enough time for the player to fight their way out of the situation.
I tried a quick play through in my head with movement with the player (Logan) the same as the NPC’s (Fodder). But if the player was in danger they had no way of escaping if they could not out run the NPC’s so I changed the movement ratio to 2:1. This made escape much easier while not giving the player to much speed so that they can run rings around the NPC’s.
So using this ratio I tested the game again and in most situations it was possible for the player to fight their way out of the group in time to not get beaten to a pulp. Assuming that there are fifteen to 20 enemies. We’ll have to focus test upon making the groups and implementing the script just to make sure to make the amount of enemies interesting, challenging and fun not overwhelming and hard. Unless that’s what we decided we are going for.
With regards to queing, I’ve decided that after the player has been surrounded by enemies as new ones continue to come they should get behind enemies in turn.
With regards to queing, I’ve decided that after the player has been surrounded by enemies as new ones continue to come they should get behind enemies in turn.
When the player is surrounded it will look like this.
X = PC
O = NPC
X = PC
O = NPC
OOO
OXO
OOO
Once the player has been completely surrounded they I propose they start adding to the pack as follows.
OOO
OXO
OOOOO
Bottom left then right
Bottom left then right
OOO
OOXOO
OOOOO
Middle left then right
OOOOO
OOXOO
OOOOO
Top left then right.
Watch the flash video I have made for you to get a better understanding of what I mean. (I’ve E-Mail the files to Daryl)
Monday 1 November 2010
Character Art Design
This week I have been assigned the job of creating a look for the lead character and to find a way of incorporating either a face or some kind of emotion into it’s design. So, first I did some research and then draw a few pictures of various shapes and styles, the sizes and widths etc.. can be discussed in the meeting and on the fly I will edit together a version that the team likes and see if that’s the direction that they wish to take the character in.
Rayman
During the last meeting, the few attending members that came, all commented on how Rayman’s looks is simple and gets rid of the need for arms and legs. Ben brought in an example of an egg ninja animation, all those characters had no arms or legs either but the animation still remained exiting, fast paced and interesting.
So I took a look at Rayman to see what about him I could use to incorporate into the main character in Project Blend.
Even without a full body his clothes and stance give him a cool appearance, the way his body flows when just standing there shows that he’s breathing just like a human being, just without arms, I feel that this subtle little thing like movement together gave the animation what it needed with the hands to not make it to unrealistic.
Flash Movie - Madness
This movie is fast paced and the animation is simple, the characters have basic outlines with little stubby legs and it all words well. So the character doesn’t have to be mega detailed for a mass platform spree of violence to take place.
http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/madness_avenger
- Flash Animation Madness Combat 3: Avenger
Dragon Ball Z
Even looking at Rayman and Madness I was still lacking ideas about how to install some emotion into this character without giving him a face as all the drawings I tried with eyes didn’t seem to work, so I started looking for another way to try and portray emotion within the character without having to pull facial expressions.
Like the illustration shows each character has three unique forms that they can take on, should they chose to. Each one is, clearly, the same albeit totally different. Even just a simple change like a hair style makes all the difference towards the characters outward appearance.
Willow Tree
As well as try and make a face work, their’s also the option to make it not work. So I started looking into things that could portray emotion without a face, for the person looking at the object to be able to always tell what the object is thinking/feeling.
Eventually I found the Willow Tree collection (AKA faceless Freaks) these are wonderful statues that still have a face but no facial features. Each one has a very powerful emotional theme running through it and maybe if the project was to chose no face there could be a way we could portray emotion.
Splinter Cell Double Agent
So running with the theme of no face I decided that swinging a sword with just hands is not going to be the best way to portray emotions in the game especially the character stance from Hack N’ Slash to stealth each mode and stance needs to be unique and stand out so that the player will know which stance their in and which attack set they can chose from.
So I looked at various games with a lot of character movement like Gears of War, Halo and Splinter Cell. In Splinter Cell, when he moves from walking to sneaking theirs a change only in his shoulders and knees but the change is so severe that it changes his outward appearance.
So I decided that adding knees would be silly so just run with shoulders as these could be used for the above mentioned appearance / stance change and to show breathing in the character.
Drawings
I made a few basic drawings, instead of drawing loads of different variations of the same character I drew a few basic outlines and in the presentation I will show the team and ask them to decide which ones they like the best and I will draw one on the fly and show them how it looks.
Rayman
During the last meeting, the few attending members that came, all commented on how Rayman’s looks is simple and gets rid of the need for arms and legs. Ben brought in an example of an egg ninja animation, all those characters had no arms or legs either but the animation still remained exiting, fast paced and interesting.
 |
| Rayman |
So I took a look at Rayman to see what about him I could use to incorporate into the main character in Project Blend.
Even without a full body his clothes and stance give him a cool appearance, the way his body flows when just standing there shows that he’s breathing just like a human being, just without arms, I feel that this subtle little thing like movement together gave the animation what it needed with the hands to not make it to unrealistic.
Flash Movie - Madness
 |
| Madness - Animation |
This movie is fast paced and the animation is simple, the characters have basic outlines with little stubby legs and it all words well. So the character doesn’t have to be mega detailed for a mass platform spree of violence to take place.
http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/madness_avenger
- Flash Animation Madness Combat 3: Avenger
Dragon Ball Z
Even looking at Rayman and Madness I was still lacking ideas about how to install some emotion into this character without giving him a face as all the drawings I tried with eyes didn’t seem to work, so I started looking for another way to try and portray emotion within the character without having to pull facial expressions.
 |
| Dragon Ball Z - Two Characters 3 Designs |
Willow Tree
As well as try and make a face work, their’s also the option to make it not work. So I started looking into things that could portray emotion without a face, for the person looking at the object to be able to always tell what the object is thinking/feeling.
Eventually I found the Willow Tree collection (AKA faceless Freaks) these are wonderful statues that still have a face but no facial features. Each one has a very powerful emotional theme running through it and maybe if the project was to chose no face there could be a way we could portray emotion.
Splinter Cell Double Agent
So running with the theme of no face I decided that swinging a sword with just hands is not going to be the best way to portray emotions in the game especially the character stance from Hack N’ Slash to stealth each mode and stance needs to be unique and stand out so that the player will know which stance their in and which attack set they can chose from.
So I looked at various games with a lot of character movement like Gears of War, Halo and Splinter Cell. In Splinter Cell, when he moves from walking to sneaking theirs a change only in his shoulders and knees but the change is so severe that it changes his outward appearance.
So I decided that adding knees would be silly so just run with shoulders as these could be used for the above mentioned appearance / stance change and to show breathing in the character.
Drawings
I made a few basic drawings, instead of drawing loads of different variations of the same character I drew a few basic outlines and in the presentation I will show the team and ask them to decide which ones they like the best and I will draw one on the fly and show them how it looks.
Sunday 17 October 2010
Art Style for Project Blend
Project Blend is one step closer putting together a unified vision of what they want the game to be; this week they have been split into three teams.
The game will be set in a 3D world with a restricted view; a view where the PC can move around in planes through the level, similar to Little Big Planet (2008 :Media Molecule)
The main character in the game will be a Raspberry Assassin, who will move around the planes of the level to stealth kill the enemies. There will be an emphasis on the stealth element of the game but hack n slash elements will also be implemented.
Mechanics
One team will look into various mechanics that could be implemented into the game.
Art Style
The game will have a real focus on fruit gore, the main level talked about so far in the obvious one, the kitchen. So each member will make a mood board to show how they think the game should look.
Setting Plot
Apart from the kitchen there is no real story or plot and in what time period will this game take place in? The team will decide what the focus of the main character is and what his / her story is, why they have to kill all the other fruits.
So each member of each of these teams will meet together, each team will then decided which ideas to incorporate into the game and which of the colours and style to adopt into the game.
My Art Vision for Project Blend
I’m on the Art team this week so I will be looking at various games, starting with little big planet as that game, seemed to be the focus in our last meeting, then work other elements from different games art styles into the project.
Little Big Planet
In Little Big Planet (LBP) the main game is centered around closed levels inside of buildings (Fig 1.1) But in the levels that are created by the LBP community, there are loads of open levels. (Fig 1.2) Project Blend so far seems to be wanting to set the game inside of a kitchen. So there will be closed backgrounds in the game but otherwise like fig 1.2 there could be an image placed into the background with blur to keep the attention on the character and not the background. The focus needs to remain on the character and the three planes of movement.
Kirby’s Epic Yarn
The backgrounds are simple, bright, block colours that are used like LBP to keep the attention on the player. Even though the backgrounds are simple they still carry on the unique bright and wonderful art style.
Some scenes there is a lot going on in the background but this adds to the atmosphere of the level and boosts the players relationship with the location.
But sometimes as you can see in figure 2.2. There is so much going on, that some times knowing where to look is hard. Project blend wants the focus to be on the character and his change throughout the level so this level of detail if applied will have to remain in check, so that vital character attention is not brocken.
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Donkey Kong, has a cartoony look and feel to it, with a nice rounded character style, bouncing with colour. Some of the backgrounds are close and others appear miles away, with the use of lovely painted backdrops.
I feel this game style will lend it’s self wonderfully to Project Blend.
Donkey Kong is a game where the PC moves along one plane through out the game, though there are sections where the plane is broken or sections where the barrel blaster shoot the PC to a plane in the background.
Super Mario Bros Wii
Mario has a unique 3D on 2D style.
The main character is in 3D as is the plan he moves left and right on, and the enemies he interacts with; but the background is a single sometimes two image(s).
Usually one image that moves with the player, some levels have two where the closer items move across the background faster than the image behind the first background image.
So there are two background images and front background image and the behind background image, the front background image moves faster across the screen to give an extra layer of depth to the level without having to use more valuable and time consuming 3D models.
Fairytale Fights
Fairytale Fights is full of a vast array of colours, there is an overbearing amount of colours used in each scene; this game would be well to do back through it’s colour scheme and select one set of colours rather than all the colours of the rainbow, like the case study I wrote last week about Devil May Cry; it mainly used greys, blues, and reds, to bring on a gothic feel.
Fairytale just throws colours out everywhere and anywhere.
The actual colours themselves are very bright like you expect a fairytale colour scheme to be. This is the sort of colour I believe would suit Project Blend.
There are a few moments in this game where a killer pop up shoots on the screen. When the PC slashes an NPC in half a pop up comes up showing the killer detail of the NPC’s falling into pieces. This I feel could play a big part in Project Blend as one of the main focuses will be on the change in the PC’s state these pop ups could be used to show off the stealth kills in the game to their full, gory awesomeness!.
HomeRun in Berzerk Land
Homerun in Berzerk Land is a flash game about a PC who as the player progresses can buy the PC bigger and more badass weapons to hit the NPC with; the further the NPC goes the bigger the score.
When the PC hit’s the NPC with his weapon an animation pops up which helps heighten the action and suspense of how far this NPC will go. This animation only pops up when a critical hit is obtained, so this gives the player an extra sense of achievement.
Samurai Jack
I feel in keeping with the anger and rage of the character to show his change to the player another art style could be used over the top of the existing art style to give a MASSIVE! contrast to the rest of the game to give extra emphasis to the pop up motion movies that will give the player his creative madness through loads and loads of gore.
Bleach
Bleach has a main character that has a character literally with a split personality he is normal but gets taken over by a mask at points in the story, this causes his personality to change and this change is apparent to the character through the use of the mask.
This gets across change excellently without having to use over the top pop up animations.
This will be great for Project blend as it will save the team loads of time in little animations, just to give the character a simple yet apparent change.
Captain Simian and the space Monkeys
The character here has a split personality, there are only a few changes but every time the character changes his personality a small visual change is enough to give the viewer what they need to know a change has occurred.
Bibliography
http://uk.gamespot.com/wii/adventure/kirbysepicyarn/video/6282158/kirbys-epic-yarn-video-review
Kirby, Background Inspiration
http://uk.gamespot.com/wii/adventure/donkeykongcountryreturns/video/6266114/donkey-kong-country-returns-power-punch-trailer
Power Punch Trailer
http://uk.ign.com/videos/2009/11/12/new-super-mario-bros-wii-nintendo-wii-review-video-review?objectid=14354229
Mario review, videos of gameplay.
http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/fairytalefights/images.html?tag=gallery_summary;image_index
Images for Fairytale Fights
http://www.kongregate.com/games/BerzerkStudio/homerun-in-berzerk-land
Game Kongregate - Homerun in Berzerk Land
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-sC3S2qeqs&feature=related
Samurai Jack
http://www.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&q=Bleach&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=G4-7TMmBOdq5jAffl7nqDg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=8&ved=0CEgQsAQwBw&biw=1392&bih=739
Images from Google for Bleach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L7DcZVyBBs
Captain Simian and the space Monkeys - Split personality
The game will be set in a 3D world with a restricted view; a view where the PC can move around in planes through the level, similar to Little Big Planet (2008 :Media Molecule)
The main character in the game will be a Raspberry Assassin, who will move around the planes of the level to stealth kill the enemies. There will be an emphasis on the stealth element of the game but hack n slash elements will also be implemented.
Mechanics
One team will look into various mechanics that could be implemented into the game.
Art Style
The game will have a real focus on fruit gore, the main level talked about so far in the obvious one, the kitchen. So each member will make a mood board to show how they think the game should look.
Setting Plot
Apart from the kitchen there is no real story or plot and in what time period will this game take place in? The team will decide what the focus of the main character is and what his / her story is, why they have to kill all the other fruits.
So each member of each of these teams will meet together, each team will then decided which ideas to incorporate into the game and which of the colours and style to adopt into the game.
My Art Vision for Project Blend
I’m on the Art team this week so I will be looking at various games, starting with little big planet as that game, seemed to be the focus in our last meeting, then work other elements from different games art styles into the project.
Little Big Planet
 |
| Fig. 1.1 |
 |
| Fig. 1.2 |
Kirby’s Epic Yarn
 |
| Fig 2.1 |
Some scenes there is a lot going on in the background but this adds to the atmosphere of the level and boosts the players relationship with the location.
 |
| Fig. 2.2 |
But sometimes as you can see in figure 2.2. There is so much going on, that some times knowing where to look is hard. Project blend wants the focus to be on the character and his change throughout the level so this level of detail if applied will have to remain in check, so that vital character attention is not brocken.
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Donkey Kong, has a cartoony look and feel to it, with a nice rounded character style, bouncing with colour. Some of the backgrounds are close and others appear miles away, with the use of lovely painted backdrops.
I feel this game style will lend it’s self wonderfully to Project Blend.
Donkey Kong is a game where the PC moves along one plane through out the game, though there are sections where the plane is broken or sections where the barrel blaster shoot the PC to a plane in the background.
Super Mario Bros Wii
Mario has a unique 3D on 2D style.
The main character is in 3D as is the plan he moves left and right on, and the enemies he interacts with; but the background is a single sometimes two image(s).
Usually one image that moves with the player, some levels have two where the closer items move across the background faster than the image behind the first background image.
So there are two background images and front background image and the behind background image, the front background image moves faster across the screen to give an extra layer of depth to the level without having to use more valuable and time consuming 3D models.
Fairytale Fights
Fairytale Fights is full of a vast array of colours, there is an overbearing amount of colours used in each scene; this game would be well to do back through it’s colour scheme and select one set of colours rather than all the colours of the rainbow, like the case study I wrote last week about Devil May Cry; it mainly used greys, blues, and reds, to bring on a gothic feel.
Fairytale just throws colours out everywhere and anywhere.
The actual colours themselves are very bright like you expect a fairytale colour scheme to be. This is the sort of colour I believe would suit Project Blend.
There are a few moments in this game where a killer pop up shoots on the screen. When the PC slashes an NPC in half a pop up comes up showing the killer detail of the NPC’s falling into pieces. This I feel could play a big part in Project Blend as one of the main focuses will be on the change in the PC’s state these pop ups could be used to show off the stealth kills in the game to their full, gory awesomeness!.
HomeRun in Berzerk Land
Homerun in Berzerk Land is a flash game about a PC who as the player progresses can buy the PC bigger and more badass weapons to hit the NPC with; the further the NPC goes the bigger the score.
When the PC hit’s the NPC with his weapon an animation pops up which helps heighten the action and suspense of how far this NPC will go. This animation only pops up when a critical hit is obtained, so this gives the player an extra sense of achievement.
Samurai Jack
I feel in keeping with the anger and rage of the character to show his change to the player another art style could be used over the top of the existing art style to give a MASSIVE! contrast to the rest of the game to give extra emphasis to the pop up motion movies that will give the player his creative madness through loads and loads of gore.
Bleach
Bleach has a main character that has a character literally with a split personality he is normal but gets taken over by a mask at points in the story, this causes his personality to change and this change is apparent to the character through the use of the mask.
This gets across change excellently without having to use over the top pop up animations.
This will be great for Project blend as it will save the team loads of time in little animations, just to give the character a simple yet apparent change.
Captain Simian and the space Monkeys
The character here has a split personality, there are only a few changes but every time the character changes his personality a small visual change is enough to give the viewer what they need to know a change has occurred.
Bibliography
http://uk.gamespot.com/wii/adventure/kirbysepicyarn/video/6282158/kirbys-epic-yarn-video-review
Kirby, Background Inspiration
http://uk.gamespot.com/wii/adventure/donkeykongcountryreturns/video/6266114/donkey-kong-country-returns-power-punch-trailer
Power Punch Trailer
http://uk.ign.com/videos/2009/11/12/new-super-mario-bros-wii-nintendo-wii-review-video-review?objectid=14354229
Mario review, videos of gameplay.
http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/fairytalefights/images.html?tag=gallery_summary;image_index
Images for Fairytale Fights
http://www.kongregate.com/games/BerzerkStudio/homerun-in-berzerk-land
Game Kongregate - Homerun in Berzerk Land
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-sC3S2qeqs&feature=related
Samurai Jack
http://www.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&q=Bleach&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=G4-7TMmBOdq5jAffl7nqDg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=8&ved=0CEgQsAQwBw&biw=1392&bih=739
Images from Google for Bleach
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L7DcZVyBBs
Captain Simian and the space Monkeys - Split personality
Monday 11 October 2010
Devil May Cry - (Short) Case Study
Disclaimer
I’ve spent absolutely hours looking for sources on various websites, I’ve been looking everywhere using all sorts of key words to try and get anything from anywhere.
The best I could get was loads of and loads of sales figures on how well the game sells and an article about the new up and coming Devil May Cry game on how to make a successful sequel.
I tried getting a copy of the game, but no where around where I live seems to sell it, it’s not even in the preowned section, it maybe because the game has been out since 2008. The Playstation network doesn’t even have a demo to download. So, turning up nothing but loose ends, the prospect of finding anything scholarly was looking grim.
So using some advise from David Dorrington, I have been looking at the following websites, including:
http://www.gametrailers.com/
http://www.gamespot.com/
http://uk.ign.com/
For all articles, trailers, reviews and video reviews; to try and get as much info from the websites as possible, about the feel, pace and atmosphere of the game. Below is all the information I found about Devil May Cry (DMC) with regards to the, feel, pace and atmosphere.
Introduction
A project at the University of East London has been set up called Project Blend. This project, still in development, it’s going through development, by a team of students using a software program called Unity. This project is currently in the research phase of the project and all kinds of information needs to be acquired to make the game as successful as it can be. This case study will look at Devil May Cry with regards to the pace, feel and atmosphere, then relate the findings back to the project it order for the information to be useful to the development team.
Devil May Cry
The Devil May Cry (DMC) series has always been set in a gothic super natural world, with up until the latest installment had Dante, as the protagonist, DMC 4 has a man named Nero; but Dante still plays a cameo role in the new game to keep the fan boys happy.
DMC is a third person, Beat em Up, Puzzler.
Since the first game, the games fundamental mechanics have remained the same, kill a relentless onslaught of undead enemies. As the player progresses through the game each section is locked until the player beats that areas group of enemies. As the player dispatches the undead enemies red orbs are collected, these can be used to buy other moves bigger and better weapons and upgrades for weapons.
While the player attacks the enemy, after the player makes a few consecutive hits to an enemy that connect, a style meter pops up, which grades the player from D to SSS.
The style meter measures the actions performed by the character
during combat and the amount of variety in attacks or other actions that are
performed in each battle. The player must perform attacks to increase the style meter gauge. The style meter will rise depending on the variety of attacks that are
unleashed or dodges that are performed.
| STYLE LEVEL | RANK |
|------------------------------------|
| Deadly! | --> D-rank |
|------------------------------------|
| Carnage! | --> C-rank |
|------------------------------------|
| Brutal! | --> B-rank |
|------------------------------------|
| Atomic! | --> A-rank |
|------------------------------------|
| Smokin'! | --> S-rank |
|------------------------------------|
| Smokin' Style! | --> SS-rank |
|------------------------------------|
| Smokin' Sick Style | --> SSS-rank |
+------------------------------------+
www.GameFaqs.com
While looking extensively at DMC, a game called Bayonetta will be used to reinforce the points raised and made while looking at DMC.
Bayonetta is also a fast pace beat em up set in a gothic setting, while fighting off undead monsters, it’s basically DMC except with a woman as a main character instead of Dante.
Feel, Pace and Atmosphere for Devil May Cry (DMC)
There are many aspects that make up the feel, pace and atmosphere of a game too numerous to mention here.
So to keep it specific and to the point I will only use the following methods to help describe the feel, pace and atmosphere:
Sounds
Coming from character (PC and weapon)
Background music
Sound Effects
Level
Colours used in levels
Layout of level
Objects within the level
Flow
The amount of NPC’s
Combo moves
Obstacles in level
Sounds
In DMC there are many different sound effects and musical scores going on at the same time, the music most of all, segues perfectly. Take an empty house for example, there’ll be slow creepy music playing in the background, with noises reminiscent of ghosts, then once an enemy comes adjacent to the PC, heavy, fast paced, loud music plays, to go with the flow of the change in the PC and it’s actions. (www.Gamespot.com DMC Gameplay Movie 9)
This type of musical theme helps the player, by giving constant feedback about when it’s time to relax from the busy set action pieces. This is also the case for Bayonetta, if the main character attacks an NPC, the music dynamically changes track to fit the situation.
To reinforce the gothic vibe the levels have running through them, the PC makes noises when swinging his sword and shooting his gun, almost constantly.
It’s as if to let the player know that fighting these undead enemies isn’t exactly a piece of cake. This gives a sense of fear to the player as every blow that is swapped with the enemy, is met with a grunt or a swosh of a sword.
This all adds dramatic tension to the fights to make them more of an adrenaline rush to the player, which does help with the dark gothic theme. This is similar for Bayonetta, though there is less grunting and more killer moves which is Bayonetta's own way of giving the player a different kind of tension.
When the PC picks up items theirs a loud almost bang noise, which has a church bell like quality to it. (www.Gamespot.com DMC Gameplay Movie 1)
This all adds to the gothic vibe to work together with the music, and sound effects from the PC to create a creepy, scary haunted mansion feel.
Level
For the colour pallet of the game theirs generally just dark grey’s, blues and red’s. These colours help to reinforce the dark gothic feel of the game as this makes things dark and erie looking. Nothing in the game, not even the interface is colourful all the colours are dark and gothic, all of which complement each other nicely.
Within the specific levels of the game there is a dark gothic theme that runs throughout to keep the tone and atmosphere throughout the game. To keep this theme running through the game the rooms are massive and are modeled to look like an old mansion.
This is backed up with loads of other objects that look like they should be in the level such as long tables and huge vases and statues of women that can be smashed so that the player can obtain points to progress through the game.
Flow
DMC has a very well structured system for pacing the gameplay. Throughout the game, as the PC enters a room red bars pop up across the door the PC needs to go through to continue the campaign. These bars will stay there until all NPC’s are dispatched, which will slow the progress of the player.
This is a clever technique to stop player running past enemies and continuing to the next room as this keeps the pace the developers intended for it.
While dispatching enemies in a room the players style meter will increase, this will encourage the player to be inventive in each room; as more points are awarded for varying their approach to each NPC.
Devil May Cry has always offered the most hardcore action, and Devil May Cry is not different: it’s a game that’s aching for you to smash things up, whether that’s the scenery, or one of the inspired selection of evil demons - IGN.UK
This helps the feel of the game as the player will feel more investment is needed in each room rather then just having to dispatch enemy units.
Certain rooms contain boxes, which can be smashed by the player, some of these boxes have hidden items in them, which can be or good use at a later stage in the game.
These boxes and vases help set the mood as part of the feng shui and add a good pace to the game, they break up the combat for the player. Before they run into the next group of enemies they get to do some exploring and see what they can find, all this extra smashing helps reinforce the beat em up mechanics and the atmosphere of the level as it helps set the gothic mood.
In Closing
Devil May Cry 4 is a quality game that is a great addition to the Devil May Cry series, it’s got some great mechanics that really make it shine and stand out from the other games. Some of the stand out bits that would be worth while considering for Project Blend are:
Colour palette
The dark gothic colours wont be of any use to the project, but the strong use of only three colours primarily throughout the game, make for an interesting colour theme.
Blood
This was mainly in Bayonetta as DMC’s blood was dark red and blended in with all the other colours of the game, but with Bayonetta, the blood stood out and heavily contrasted form the background. The Blend project could benefit from something like this with all the types of bright vibrant colours of various fruits.
Style Meter
Both DMC and Bayonetta have style meter combo bars in their games, both standing out from the rest of the interface to bring this achievement to the players attention straight away, this is a positive reinforcement mechanic for the player giving them positive feedback will be a way of keeping the comedy and light heartedness that project blend is trying to incorporate into their game.
Music
Both games have good sound tracks and sound effects, they have a good way of segueing into one another, they carefully dyamicaly blend one song into another without any gap in the music.
Keeping this sort of attention to musical detail may prove to be vital to keeping the pace; which could in turn help to keep the pace in the game Project Blend are producing.
Maybe these core mechanics could be used in Project blend with a little tweaking they could be made for the game and hopefully add some quality moments to the game.
Bibliography
http://www.gamefaqs.com/xbox360/938686-devil-may-cry-4/faqs/51976
http://www.gametrailers.com/
http://www.gamespot.com/
http://uk.ign.com/
http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/849/849615p1.html
http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/devilmaycry4/video/6186187/devil-may-cry-4-gameplay-movie-9
- > Devil May Cry Gameplay video No.9 - Change in level music.
http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/devilmaycry4/video/6169991/devil-may-cry-4-gameplay-movie-1?tag=videos;title;12
- > Devil May Cry Gameplay Video No.1
http://uk.ign.com/videos/2009/12/21/bayonetta-playstation-3-review-video-review?objectid=14253676
- - > Bayonetta video review IGN.UK
http://uk.gamespot.com/ps3/action/bayonetta/video/6243576/bayonetta-gameplay-trailer-5?tag=videos;title;6
- > Bayonetta Gameplay Video No.6
http://uk.ps3.ign.com/dor/objects/14253676/bayonetta/images/bayonetta-screens-20091027094303546.html
- - > Bayonetta Images IGN.UK
http://uk.ps3.ign.com/dor/objects/748464/devil-may-cry-4/images/devil-may-cry-4-20071018095400417.html
- - > Devil May Cry Images. IGN.UK
I’ve spent absolutely hours looking for sources on various websites, I’ve been looking everywhere using all sorts of key words to try and get anything from anywhere.
The best I could get was loads of and loads of sales figures on how well the game sells and an article about the new up and coming Devil May Cry game on how to make a successful sequel.
I tried getting a copy of the game, but no where around where I live seems to sell it, it’s not even in the preowned section, it maybe because the game has been out since 2008. The Playstation network doesn’t even have a demo to download. So, turning up nothing but loose ends, the prospect of finding anything scholarly was looking grim.
So using some advise from David Dorrington, I have been looking at the following websites, including:
http://www.gametrailers.com/
http://www.gamespot.com/
http://uk.ign.com/
For all articles, trailers, reviews and video reviews; to try and get as much info from the websites as possible, about the feel, pace and atmosphere of the game. Below is all the information I found about Devil May Cry (DMC) with regards to the, feel, pace and atmosphere.
Introduction
A project at the University of East London has been set up called Project Blend. This project, still in development, it’s going through development, by a team of students using a software program called Unity. This project is currently in the research phase of the project and all kinds of information needs to be acquired to make the game as successful as it can be. This case study will look at Devil May Cry with regards to the pace, feel and atmosphere, then relate the findings back to the project it order for the information to be useful to the development team.
Devil May Cry
The Devil May Cry (DMC) series has always been set in a gothic super natural world, with up until the latest installment had Dante, as the protagonist, DMC 4 has a man named Nero; but Dante still plays a cameo role in the new game to keep the fan boys happy.
DMC is a third person, Beat em Up, Puzzler.
Since the first game, the games fundamental mechanics have remained the same, kill a relentless onslaught of undead enemies. As the player progresses through the game each section is locked until the player beats that areas group of enemies. As the player dispatches the undead enemies red orbs are collected, these can be used to buy other moves bigger and better weapons and upgrades for weapons.
While the player attacks the enemy, after the player makes a few consecutive hits to an enemy that connect, a style meter pops up, which grades the player from D to SSS.
 |
| Screen Shot of the character Dante |
The style meter measures the actions performed by the character
during combat and the amount of variety in attacks or other actions that are
performed in each battle. The player must perform attacks to increase the style meter gauge. The style meter will rise depending on the variety of attacks that are
unleashed or dodges that are performed.
| STYLE LEVEL | RANK |
|------------------------------------|
| Deadly! | --> D-rank |
|------------------------------------|
| Carnage! | --> C-rank |
|------------------------------------|
| Brutal! | --> B-rank |
|------------------------------------|
| Atomic! | --> A-rank |
|------------------------------------|
| Smokin'! | --> S-rank |
|------------------------------------|
| Smokin' Style! | --> SS-rank |
|------------------------------------|
| Smokin' Sick Style | --> SSS-rank |
+------------------------------------+
www.GameFaqs.com
While looking extensively at DMC, a game called Bayonetta will be used to reinforce the points raised and made while looking at DMC.
Bayonetta is also a fast pace beat em up set in a gothic setting, while fighting off undead monsters, it’s basically DMC except with a woman as a main character instead of Dante.
Feel, Pace and Atmosphere for Devil May Cry (DMC)
There are many aspects that make up the feel, pace and atmosphere of a game too numerous to mention here.
So to keep it specific and to the point I will only use the following methods to help describe the feel, pace and atmosphere:
Sounds
Coming from character (PC and weapon)
Background music
Sound Effects
Level
Colours used in levels
Layout of level
Objects within the level
Flow
The amount of NPC’s
Combo moves
Obstacles in level
Sounds
In DMC there are many different sound effects and musical scores going on at the same time, the music most of all, segues perfectly. Take an empty house for example, there’ll be slow creepy music playing in the background, with noises reminiscent of ghosts, then once an enemy comes adjacent to the PC, heavy, fast paced, loud music plays, to go with the flow of the change in the PC and it’s actions. (www.Gamespot.com DMC Gameplay Movie 9)
This type of musical theme helps the player, by giving constant feedback about when it’s time to relax from the busy set action pieces. This is also the case for Bayonetta, if the main character attacks an NPC, the music dynamically changes track to fit the situation.
To reinforce the gothic vibe the levels have running through them, the PC makes noises when swinging his sword and shooting his gun, almost constantly.
It’s as if to let the player know that fighting these undead enemies isn’t exactly a piece of cake. This gives a sense of fear to the player as every blow that is swapped with the enemy, is met with a grunt or a swosh of a sword.
This all adds dramatic tension to the fights to make them more of an adrenaline rush to the player, which does help with the dark gothic theme. This is similar for Bayonetta, though there is less grunting and more killer moves which is Bayonetta's own way of giving the player a different kind of tension.
 |
| A giant spiked wheel that spins over the enemy until dead. |
When the PC picks up items theirs a loud almost bang noise, which has a church bell like quality to it. (www.Gamespot.com DMC Gameplay Movie 1)
This all adds to the gothic vibe to work together with the music, and sound effects from the PC to create a creepy, scary haunted mansion feel.
Level
For the colour pallet of the game theirs generally just dark grey’s, blues and red’s. These colours help to reinforce the dark gothic feel of the game as this makes things dark and erie looking. Nothing in the game, not even the interface is colourful all the colours are dark and gothic, all of which complement each other nicely.
 |
| A collection of Red's, Blue's and Grey's. |
Within the specific levels of the game there is a dark gothic theme that runs throughout to keep the tone and atmosphere throughout the game. To keep this theme running through the game the rooms are massive and are modeled to look like an old mansion.
This is backed up with loads of other objects that look like they should be in the level such as long tables and huge vases and statues of women that can be smashed so that the player can obtain points to progress through the game.
Flow
DMC has a very well structured system for pacing the gameplay. Throughout the game, as the PC enters a room red bars pop up across the door the PC needs to go through to continue the campaign. These bars will stay there until all NPC’s are dispatched, which will slow the progress of the player.
This is a clever technique to stop player running past enemies and continuing to the next room as this keeps the pace the developers intended for it.
 |
| Red bars prevent players from progressing until all enemies are dispatched. |
While dispatching enemies in a room the players style meter will increase, this will encourage the player to be inventive in each room; as more points are awarded for varying their approach to each NPC.
Devil May Cry has always offered the most hardcore action, and Devil May Cry is not different: it’s a game that’s aching for you to smash things up, whether that’s the scenery, or one of the inspired selection of evil demons - IGN.UK
This helps the feel of the game as the player will feel more investment is needed in each room rather then just having to dispatch enemy units.
Certain rooms contain boxes, which can be smashed by the player, some of these boxes have hidden items in them, which can be or good use at a later stage in the game.
These boxes and vases help set the mood as part of the feng shui and add a good pace to the game, they break up the combat for the player. Before they run into the next group of enemies they get to do some exploring and see what they can find, all this extra smashing helps reinforce the beat em up mechanics and the atmosphere of the level as it helps set the gothic mood.
In Closing
Devil May Cry 4 is a quality game that is a great addition to the Devil May Cry series, it’s got some great mechanics that really make it shine and stand out from the other games. Some of the stand out bits that would be worth while considering for Project Blend are:
Colour palette
The dark gothic colours wont be of any use to the project, but the strong use of only three colours primarily throughout the game, make for an interesting colour theme.
Blood
This was mainly in Bayonetta as DMC’s blood was dark red and blended in with all the other colours of the game, but with Bayonetta, the blood stood out and heavily contrasted form the background. The Blend project could benefit from something like this with all the types of bright vibrant colours of various fruits.
Style Meter
Both DMC and Bayonetta have style meter combo bars in their games, both standing out from the rest of the interface to bring this achievement to the players attention straight away, this is a positive reinforcement mechanic for the player giving them positive feedback will be a way of keeping the comedy and light heartedness that project blend is trying to incorporate into their game.
Music
Both games have good sound tracks and sound effects, they have a good way of segueing into one another, they carefully dyamicaly blend one song into another without any gap in the music.
Keeping this sort of attention to musical detail may prove to be vital to keeping the pace; which could in turn help to keep the pace in the game Project Blend are producing.
Maybe these core mechanics could be used in Project blend with a little tweaking they could be made for the game and hopefully add some quality moments to the game.
Bibliography
http://www.gamefaqs.com/xbox360/938686-devil-may-cry-4/faqs/51976
http://www.gametrailers.com/
http://www.gamespot.com/
http://uk.ign.com/
http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/849/849615p1.html
http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/devilmaycry4/video/6186187/devil-may-cry-4-gameplay-movie-9
- > Devil May Cry Gameplay video No.9 - Change in level music.
http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/devilmaycry4/video/6169991/devil-may-cry-4-gameplay-movie-1?tag=videos;title;12
- > Devil May Cry Gameplay Video No.1
http://uk.ign.com/videos/2009/12/21/bayonetta-playstation-3-review-video-review?objectid=14253676
- - > Bayonetta video review IGN.UK
http://uk.gamespot.com/ps3/action/bayonetta/video/6243576/bayonetta-gameplay-trailer-5?tag=videos;title;6
- > Bayonetta Gameplay Video No.6
http://uk.ps3.ign.com/dor/objects/14253676/bayonetta/images/bayonetta-screens-20091027094303546.html
- - > Bayonetta Images IGN.UK
http://uk.ps3.ign.com/dor/objects/748464/devil-may-cry-4/images/devil-may-cry-4-20071018095400417.html
- - > Devil May Cry Images. IGN.UK
Friday 8 October 2010
Game pitch - Busting in at SEGA
Inspiration
When thinking about a game idea, I was thinking of something that would be simple for the whole team to make and at the same time challenging; so that if time allowed more levels and more complex puzzles and dimensions to the puzzles could be added.
So I was thinking of a Point and Click game the most recent of which that I have been playing is Machinarium(2009), (fig 1). This is a simple game where the player click as a part of the screen for the PC to interact with it or pick up certain objects. Machinarium’s level of beauty is breath taking and the attention to detail in the puzzles is excellent. But... this game suffers from the same problem all point and click games do. In one room you pick up certain objects and have to use them on certain things to pass, all the way to the unavoidable end.
So what I was thinking was maybe like Mass Effect 2 (2010) a level of choice could be added to the game, giving the player a sense of change in the game, to make them think that what their going affects the gameplay, to add multiple endings depending on how badly the player messes up. Because in Mass effect 2 (fig 2), the player can chose what they want to say to NPC’s, this in turn affects their mood towards you, determining wether or not they will willingly! help you or not.
High Concept
Point and Click adventure with multiple paths leading to multiple endings.
Unique selling point
Busting in at Sega’s unique selling point is that this point and click adventure has more than one ending, depending on how you interact with the NPC’s during the game.
Story - Busting in at SEGA
Michael wants a job at SEGA but doesn’t have the same long list of qualifications that all his competitors do, but what he does have is a mad set of skills that will help him make a world class game.
So one day after applying what seemed like everywhere, while standing outside of Sega, Michael decided that something drastic had to be done.
So the game starts with Michael outside the SEGA building and the player can chose to go in through the door or window, once inside the player will have to make their way through various rooms interacting with the employees that work there to gain access to the boss for a job interview.
When the player does click on an NPC’s their will be a chat log that pops up with multiple choices of text to chose from just like Mass Effect. Having good choices neutral choices and bad choices.
Depending on who the player does or doesn’t talk to, what the player does or doesn’t touch depends on the outcome of the game and wether or not Michael lands a job at SEGA.
Bibliography
(Amanita Design, Machinarium, 2009.)
(BioWare, Mass Effect 2, 2010.)
When thinking about a game idea, I was thinking of something that would be simple for the whole team to make and at the same time challenging; so that if time allowed more levels and more complex puzzles and dimensions to the puzzles could be added.
So I was thinking of a Point and Click game the most recent of which that I have been playing is Machinarium(2009), (fig 1). This is a simple game where the player click as a part of the screen for the PC to interact with it or pick up certain objects. Machinarium’s level of beauty is breath taking and the attention to detail in the puzzles is excellent. But... this game suffers from the same problem all point and click games do. In one room you pick up certain objects and have to use them on certain things to pass, all the way to the unavoidable end.
 |
| Fig 1 |
So what I was thinking was maybe like Mass Effect 2 (2010) a level of choice could be added to the game, giving the player a sense of change in the game, to make them think that what their going affects the gameplay, to add multiple endings depending on how badly the player messes up. Because in Mass effect 2 (fig 2), the player can chose what they want to say to NPC’s, this in turn affects their mood towards you, determining wether or not they will willingly! help you or not.
 |
| Fig 2 |
High Concept
Point and Click adventure with multiple paths leading to multiple endings.
Unique selling point
Busting in at Sega’s unique selling point is that this point and click adventure has more than one ending, depending on how you interact with the NPC’s during the game.
Story - Busting in at SEGA
Michael wants a job at SEGA but doesn’t have the same long list of qualifications that all his competitors do, but what he does have is a mad set of skills that will help him make a world class game.
So one day after applying what seemed like everywhere, while standing outside of Sega, Michael decided that something drastic had to be done.
So the game starts with Michael outside the SEGA building and the player can chose to go in through the door or window, once inside the player will have to make their way through various rooms interacting with the employees that work there to gain access to the boss for a job interview.
When the player does click on an NPC’s their will be a chat log that pops up with multiple choices of text to chose from just like Mass Effect. Having good choices neutral choices and bad choices.
Depending on who the player does or doesn’t talk to, what the player does or doesn’t touch depends on the outcome of the game and wether or not Michael lands a job at SEGA.
Bibliography
(Amanita Design, Machinarium, 2009.)
(BioWare, Mass Effect 2, 2010.)
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